LEWISTON — In late March, a 13-year-old Augusta boy went before a state committee and related his experiences with synthetic cannabinoids.

He had been having a rough day at school, the boy told the group. When a friend told him he had something that could help, he jumped at the chance.

“He said, ‘I can help you get people to like you and make you better,'” the teen testified.

His friend produced a small package with “Stay High” printed on the front. It had been legally purchased and before long, the youths were smoking it.

It wasn’t an enjoyable experience.

“I couldn’t see straight,” the 13-year-old testified. “I was seeing double and I felt like my skin was suffocating me.”

He blacked out, the boy said, and came to an hour later. A few days later, he began to feel sick at school. He confessed to his mother what he had done and she took him to the hospital.

“I almost died there,” the boy said.

He was in the hospital for four days and three nights. Now, lawmakers are using the teen’s experience to help push LD 661 through the system. It’s a bill that would prohibit the sale and possession of synthetic cannabinoids, better known as “Spice” or “K2.”

In some Maine cities, youths are finding their way to the synthetic marijuana, not through back-alley dealers, but at corner stores, gas stations and so-called head shops. Spice is often labeled as incense and may even include warnings that it’s not for human consumption.

But drug officials say Spice is marketed to children who want to experiment and that marketing appears to be working. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, 11.4 percent of high school seniors reported using Spice in the past year. That’s second only to marijuana or hashish seniors have used in the same period.

Spice and the assorted variants generally contain shredded plant material and chemical additives that are responsible for their mind-altering effects, according to NIDA.

Laws have been created to ban these types of substances. The problem, drug officials say, is that when lawmakers ban specific substances, manufacturers change the chemical composition, one that produces the same effects but which skirts the law.

In Bangor and other cities, Spice has been easy to find. In Lewiston, it’s not so simple. A search of random stores across the downtown revealed items such as Spanish Fly, smoking apparatus and purported sexual enhancements, but no Spice.

Nonetheless, local drug agents say synthetic marijuana is not unknown here. They are familiar with the substance, the way it is packaged and what it can do.

“Anytime you are dealing with a substance, such as a synthetic weed or related items, that appears to be marketed to the youth, we consider it a top priority and address it as such,” one MDEA agent said.

He said reports of Spice use have been “relatively limited” in the Lewiston-Auburn area so far, and that’s by design. Drug agents are trying to keep it out of the community, although they say it’s difficult when a simple switch of ingredients allows the manufacturer to circumvent the law.

Some locals who reported trying Spice admitted it was the easy access that lured them. They also reported that it gave them no pleasant effects, just headaches and other maladies.

The 13-year-old Augusta boy testified before the Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety. The committee also heard from Roy McKinney, director of the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency. Maine criminalized four cannabinoids in 2011, McKinney told the group, only to have those substituted with other cannabinoids when the law went into effect in July 2012.

The Bangor Daily News on Thursday published an editorial supporting LD 661.

“The committee should ensure that any penalties are fair and consistent, and it is important for the state to support prevention and treatment programs,” the editorial stated. “But this bill would essentially criminalize a substance that’s already supposed to be illegal. It’s dangerous, used by young people and simply should not be sold in stores. The Legislature should address the Spice problem before it gets worse.”